Big South Announces 2011-12 Scholar-Athletes of the Year

Jul 31

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (www.BigSouthSports.com) - Gardner-Webb softball player Jane Savage (Marietta, Ga.) and Coastal Carolina baseball player Tucker Frawley (Lexington, S.C.) have been voted the 2011-12 Big South Conference Female and Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year, respectively, it was announced today by the League office. The Scholar-Athletes of the Year are voted on by the Big South Sports Information Directors from a pool of each sport's Scholar-Athlete winner.

Savage is the first Gardner-Webb female athlete, as well as the second consecutive softball player, to win the award. She was a recipient of the George A. Christenberry Award -- the Big South's highest academic honor for having a 4.0 grade point average during her career. The English major was a two-time Big South Softball All-Academic Team member and the 2012 Softball Scholar-Athlete of the Year, Savage played in 46 games during her senior year, starting 39 in leftfield. She recorded 16 hits and scored 13 runs in helping the Runnin' Bulldogs reach the Semifinals of the Big South Softball Championship. Savage also had a career-high five outfield assists in 2012, and finished her career ranked 12th in Gardner-Webb's Division I history in runs scored (62), 12th in stolen bases (14), tied for 14th in walks (31) and tied for 16th in triples (2). She also finished ranked 13th in career games played (177) and 19th in games started (150).

Frawley is the fourth Coastal Carolina student-athlete to win the award in the last six years (seventh overall honoree), and is the third consecutive baseball player to be honored. A Capital One/CoSIDA First-Team Academic All-America in 2012, Frawley is a two-time Capital One/CoSIDA Academic All-District selection and two-time member of the Big South Baseball All-Academic Team. He was a semifinalist for the 2012 Johnny Bench Award and was a First-Team All-Conference catcher this past season. Frawley threw out 25 of 51 base runners (49 percent) during his senior year, and also picked off seven runners as Coastal Carolina led the Big South in pickoffs. He reached base safely in 52 of 60 games played, caught 89.8 percent of the team's innings this season and handled a young pitching staff that led the NCAA in ERA seven times during the 2012 campaign and finished third nationally. At the plate, Frawley batted .296 with 25 runs scored, 27 RBI and posted a .411 on-base percentage. Selected in the eighth round of the MLB Draft by the Toronto Blue Jays, Frawley graduated Magna Cum Laude in May with a 3.94 grade-point average in physics.

The Big South Male and Female Scholar-Athletes of the Year are selected from a pool of each sport's Scholar-Athlete of the Year winner announced during the regular season. In the voting, Savage finished with 40 points, ahead of High Point women's soccer player Brielle Spencer (31 points). Gardner-Webb women's basketball player Brianna Dillard finished third with 27 points. On the men's side, Frawley finished first in the voting with 45 points, followed by Radford track & field athlete Brett Olinger (38 points) and High Point men's soccer player Shawn Sloan, who was third with 32 points.